Empire Marketing

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1016, 5 July 1930, Page 29

Empire Marketing

Good Work Done By Board A LTIIOUGH possibly aware of its existence, and aware also ft Ihat it does :i little toward fostering a preference for Empire produce, the average man on the land knows little of the work of the Empire Market ing Hoard. The fourth annual report issued by I lie board shows that is doing a very worthwhile work hi various parts of the Empire, particularly in the British Isles.

The Empire Marketing Board is a? non-political body, with headquarters j in Loudon, which Avas established by j Act of Parliament in 1926; its function } is to further the marketing in the j United Kingdom of Empire (including home agricultural) products. Its work may be divided into t.A\*o main head 3, those of publicity and research. “There has, Avith out question, bet*n a marked advance,” states the board’s latest report, “in the : habit of Empire buying in Great Britain in the past year.” Attention was drawn in the last a:i-; nual report of the Empire Marketing Board to a number of Empire-grown j foodstuffs, shipments of Avhich into! the United Kingdom had surpassed all previous records in 1927 and 2 925. The j list Avas long and comprehensive. In I spite of this, the year now under re-1 view showed further evidence of pro ! gross in the consumption of Empire j produce in the United Kingdom. Some foodstuffs, record shipments of which Avere noted in the last report, arrived in pven greater quantities, while other commodities established records Among the commodities mentioned are New Zealand cheese, butter, eggs and frozen pork, all of which established in 1929 a record over any previous year. Such figures throw, of course, only a very partial light on Empire trade. Many factors —some, like the failure of crops, avholly or partially beyond human control—would have to bo taken into account before a complete analysis was reached. It may, however, be said that the Empire Marketing Board has been encouraged by its 1 experience in the past year. There j has again been an appreciable quicken ing of interest in the theme of Empire j buying among men and women in the j United Kingdom. The board is assisting research in! ail parts of the Empire, principally I

I by way of grants which in some iui stances are spread over a period of i three to five years. For instance, the board lias made a grant of approximately £4,000 a year for a period of five years to the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture at Trinidad for J research Avith respect to the produe- j tion of a disease-free baifana; Fiji ‘ copra growers receive a grant of £750 j for two years to help improve the '■ methods of marketing in that centre: • the citrus fruit growers of Palestine j are receiving £I.OOO a year for a period of three years: help is being given those investigating the possibitity of finding a remedy for “bush-sick- - ness” in New Zealand. In many ways in all parts of the Empire the board'is assisting movements to improve the quality of produce and increase output. Jn the sphere of publicity the board . has conducted a widespread campaign j in the United Kingdom using many of the leading newspapers. It has i poster frame displays in 450 towns in the Old Country, and special frames have been erected in Australia. New Zealand, South Africa, and the British "West Indies. Visitors to the Waikato Winter Show would get some idea of the extensive and highly attractive advertising conducted by the board in j the display which covered a whole wall in the home industries section. Exhibitions and Empire Shopping Weeks haA'e been arranged in many parts, while the cinema has also been used to bring Empire produce betore the consuming public. The board is indeed a very active agent in furthering the cause of the Empire producer, and those who are ! ever-ready to say that nothing is being done to give publicity to Empire produce in the face of extensive competition from foreign countries would do well to investigate the work of the board.